County's jobless rate up slightly in October

Saturday

Nov 17, 2012 at 12:01 AM

San Joaquin County's unemployment rate ticked up to 13.6 percent in October from a revised 13.4 percent in September, due largely to the normal seasonal drop in farm and food processing employment with the end of the fall harvest, state labor officials reported Friday.

Reed Fujii

San Joaquin County's unemployment rate ticked up to 13.6 percent in October from a revised 13.4 percent in September, due largely to the normal seasonal drop in farm and food processing employment with the end of the fall harvest, state labor officials reported Friday.

The county's job market continues to improve overall, as last month's rate was more than 2 percentage points lower than the estimated 15.8 percent unemployment in October 2011.

The biggest month-to-month change came in San Joaquin County farm employment, with a drop of 1,700 jobs, or about 10 percent, the state Employment Development Department estimated. There was also a loss of 500 manufacturing jobs, most of those in harvest-related food processing.

But those losses were nearly offset by gains in other private-sector industries, including a jump of 500 jobs in retail in October from September; private schools added 400 workers; 300 new workers entered the health care sector; and smaller gains were seen in many other areas.

California statewide showed stronger-than-expected job growth in October with employers adding 45,800 workers, ahead of a usual gain during the holiday shopping season.

The state's unemployment rate eased to 10.1 percent in October, down from 10.2 percent the month before, adjusted for seasonal variations.

Because the county figure is not adjusted for seasonal variation, it compares with an unadjusted unemployment rate of 9.8 percent for California and 7.5 percent for the nation in October.

No matter how you measure it, the statewide figures look positive, said Jeff Michael, director of the Business Forecasting Center at University of the Pacific.

"Job growth was very strong in October and revised upward in September," he said Friday from his Stockton office.

And, Michael added, "Retail is one area that jumps out at me as a little stronger than expected."

The job gains seen in retail employment, both statewide and in the county, usually appear in November and December.

Year over year, San Joaquin County showed a 3.3 percent gain in nonfarm employment, which Michael called great. "Everything points to a recovery that's in progress," he said.

Still, he cautioned that most of the new jobs actually appeared in fall 2011 and early this year.

"For the Stockton metro area, once you wash out all the seasonal swings over the last six months, it's still relatively flat, holding the gains we've made," Michael said.

Nearly all the growth is coming in the private sector, which showed a gain of 7,500 workers in county payrolls in October compared with the year before.

"The one sector losing jobs is government, particularly local government," Michael said.

The EDD's October report showed a loss of 1,200 public-sector jobs from last year.

Voter approval of Proposition 30, boosting state tax revenues, could help stem that bleeding.

"If we could switch that area that's been losing jobs over the last year or two to sort of neutral, that will help," Michael said.

Year over year in the county, the strongest employment gains were seen in retail trade, up 1,300 jobs; manufacturing gained 1,200 positions; health care companies added 1,100 workers; and professional and business services added 800 employees, as did hotels and restaurants.